To ban the wearing of shoes in our house?

[EagleRay]

I've just spent the last 3 nights up until the early hours repainting the living room floor (it's white and because it's a basement room and lacking in light, I painted it white a few years ago - this was when I was single, idealistic and didn't have a DP and DD!). It hadn't been painted for a few years and looked really grubby plus had suffered a few knocks and scrapes.

It looks really good now and much cleaner than it was, but it opens out onto the garden and so won't be long now before dirt starts being traipsed back in along with DP's bikes as apparently the lounge is a really good place to take them apart

Just been thinking about how nice it would be if we went shoeless in the house - think the rest of the house would benefit too as it's mostly wood floors. Has anyone else started leaving shoes off and noticed a difference?

I had to drink a fair bit of wine to get all that painting done - perhaps I will go off the idea by tomorrow when I've sobered up

[WorraLiberty]

We don't wear shoes but I would never dream of asking a guest to remove theirs.

I would definitely keep the bikes out of the room though. If that's not possible, buy some tarpaulin to protect the floor.

[Spermysextowel]

None of us wear shoes indoors because my mother thought it was better for your feet & I inherited that.
Now I've has wood floors put down it's become a rule. I warn guests so that they don't wear something that'll only look good in heels, or holey socks.

[TowerRavenSeven]

YANBU for just your nuclear family but good luck with other friends/family. I've asked politely, and I've had family tell me straight out because of health reasons they had to wear shoes in the house. I 'get it' but it's still a PITA.

[Spermysextowel]

I don't mean that my guests often wear outfits that will only look good with holey socks.

[caroldecker]

YABU if you expect me to come into your house

[toddlerwrangling]

I think it's becoming much more of an accepted thing. We go halfway and keep some ballet pumps (me) and slippers (DH) as "indoor shoes" which we change into in the house. So far DD goes barefoot indoors, but I guess it will be harder to enforce this as she gets older.

[Silverdaisy]

I was going to paint our floor white, what paint did you use? I've to looks good.

Sorry, that wasn't answering your question though. Personally I would not ask people to remove shoes I my house.

[Silverdaisy]

Oops! It should say - I bet it looks good.

[justonemoretime2p]

I only read the title, ban them all from your house.
No shoes no entry.

[NaughtyRed82]

Should tell your DP to take his bikes apart in the garden as well not in the lounge

[TelephoneIgnoringMachine]

I've always been a barefoot person. I converted DH. We don't expect guests to do it (although we might casually mention it & are very pleased if they do!)

[BackforGood]

The shoes on / shoes off disagreement comes up regularly on MN - you get a fairly even divide usually, with each side being unable to comprehend the other side's viewpoint.

That said, I think you are asking for trouble painting a living room floor white. When we moved in this house, the bathroom had painted white floorboards and it was bad enough in there, where you would expect people to be in bare feet or slippers - I can't imagine it in a living room.

[TheCatsFlaps]

Hate shoes off, if you think dirt is bad, imagine all the fungi and bacteria the average foot has. Gross

[EagleRay]

To complicate things slightly, we have a lot of guests from other countries to stay and I think I've become more aware recently that this is the norm in some other countries (Danish family all took their shoes off at the door and having googled this would seem to be the norm, although didn't realise before!)

Silverdaisy floor is painted in F&B no. 3 off white floor paint. It dries quickly and is fairly hard wearing. Challenge is remembering the shade I use when redecorating after several years!

Half the floor's been covered in recent years with a huge sisal rug which has actually made the floor worse in some ways as the dust goes through the rug and collects underneath and given it a permanently grubby coating. Rug is being ditched off and have put down a big plastic beach mat from Thailand instead - nice and colourful and easy to keep clean! The living room is a second one so is slightly random - it has chairs but also serves as a playroom for DD and of course a bloody workshop for DP...

[FeijoaSundae]

We don't wear shoes in our home, but I'd never dream of asking guests to remove theirs. In fact, if they start to, I tell them not to worry about it. If they want to remove them, that's fine.

I will always offer to remove my shoes when I go to others.

If I was invited to someone's house, and they pre-warned me that I would have to remove my shoes, I'd think they were beyond precious, and would reform my opinion of them. Seriously, who does that? It's just floor.

[Spermysextowel]

I do! It's just floor that I saved for for 2 years after having a snaggy old one with sticky out nails that tore socks & shoes to shreds.
No-one has yet refused an invite because of my footwear demands.

[CheerfulYank]

I hate shoes in the house and when we get new flooring I am putting up a sign. Something twee that says "kick off your shoes and your worries and come in" etc.

But I am American and everyone knows what we're like :o

[Rainbunny]

I've always been in a no shoes house and I think it's pretty gross to wear shoes indoors. We live in a city and as a dog owner I'm well aware of what dirty crap there is on pavements that isn't visible to the naked eye (I pick up after my dog but of course there will be small remnants of dog mess on the ground that can't be seen). I do have a basket full of clean fluffy socks in bright colours/patterns by the entrance for guests to wear if they choose. I've never had anyone complain, in fact most people remark that they want to copy my system.

[londonrach]

Always been a no shoe flat as have all my family. Never had problems with people removing shoes. When i visit patients i remove shoes too. Didnt realise people wore shoes inside.

[LinkDat]

We are shoes off before you even enter house. Guests too. My house my rules I don't want their filth on my floor for my kids to crawl over. Who knows what the hell they've walked in. Well done for painting it gets laborious doesn't it, 3 nights of hard work you can tell whoever you want to keep the dirt out!

[WhirlyTwos]

I have yet to meet an indoor shoe wearer in possession of a well-kept and clean house. Those who claim feet are dirty make no sense - you must be pretty filthy if you think pavements and roads are cleaner than your feet.

[MythicalKings]

We usually kick off our shoes and put on slippers but wouldn't dream of asking guests to. Very rude.

If you think shoes off houses are clean look at the bottom of your feet or socks. Grubby.

My house is well kept and clean, Whirly. I have a hoover, a steamer and a carpet cleaner.

[MythicalKings]

And no pets, that helps.

[WhirlyTwos]

I'm sure your house is clean mythical since you are a non-wearer, and obviously an avid fan of cleaning implements.

the bottoms of my feet are usually pretty clean... Acid test.... Would I lick my feet? Yes. Would I lick the pavement? Errrrr.... No!

[Highabove]

We've had our house remodelled and now have a lounge upstairs, definitely no shoes on that new carpet and as we do the rest of the house I expect the same. The ILs are the worst but I will be insisting. Just got to train the children...

Although most children that come to us have been brought up to take shoes off as they enter, and do it without asking. It's definitely getting more normal to do it.

Good luck OP!